No. 15 at Prairie Green tests power and precision over 566 yards

Jul. 24, 2013

Eric Harms tees off on No. 15 at Prairie Green Golf Course, a 566-yard par-5 with water hazards on the left and right sides of the fairway. A long and accurate tee shot is required to clear to trouble with the sand and a chance at reaching the green in two. / Emily Spartz / Argus Leader

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Eric Harms (left), Mick Garry (center) and Nate Houser get ready to tee off on No. 15 at Prairie Green Golf Course. Harms and Houser were around the green after two shots on the 566-yard par-5. / Emily Spartz / Argus Leader

About the hole

No. 15 at Prairie Green Golf Course, 566 yards from the championship tees The Argus Leadaer is honoring local big hitters as part of our summer golf series, seeking out some of the area’s longest and most challenging par-5 holes. To suggest a hole, email us at argus-sports@argusleader.comWatch Nate Houser, Eric Harms, and sports reporter Mick Garry try to reach hole No. 15 at Prairie Green at argusleader.com

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A head wind can be the long driver’s worst enemy, but as a few of the area’s solid strikers proved recently, it’s a foe that can be dealt with.

Force of will and ample clubhead speed can be quite a combination, even in the face of the typical South Dakota gale.

Which is good, because No. 15 at Prairie Green from the back tees is an ornery cuss. Sand and water hit you from both sides.

The water is on the left off the tee, then on the right for a long-hitter’s second shot. And more sand greets you up around the green.

As with many of the long par-fives we’re playing this summer, there’s a risk-reward dilemma that involves an assessment of the present conditions as well as one’s own ability to deal with those conditions.

There is a difference between boldness and stupidity. More often than not, No. 15, playing 566 yards from the tips, is going to try to monkey with the long-hitter’s brain a little before it sends him or her to the tee box with a driver in hand.

“The carry in the air over the trap on the left is 280 yards,” explained long hitter Nate Houser, a self-described risk-taker. “You want to get over that bunker. If you have a good wind pushing it, you really want to bomb it over everything. That’s my favorite part of this hole – if you do it right, on the right day, you can hit it about 340. But if you have a bad wind, you can push it right or pull it out of bounds.”

Houser said this before our exploration of the actual hole, but he’d seen the wind direction while walking from the parking lot to Prairie Green’s new clubhouse and knew what he was up against.

“Today we have a bad wind,” he said. “We’re really going to have to pound it.”

Houser, along with local realtor and noted local Titleist launcher Eric Harms, played the hole for our par-5 tour series with both delivering on their reputations. Harms definitely looks the part for taking on this task, while Houser, one of the better golfers in the area, surprises you with big clubhead speed in a small package.

From the back tee, No. 15 generously offers golfers the option to not try to clear the pond that dominates the left side of the fairway – or to clear whatever portion of it they feel confident they can clear in an effort to shorten the distance to the green.

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From one of the other tees, average hitters could take on the risk-reward elements here, but from where we were playing it, only the bold and the strong were going to be able to contemplate biting off the whole left side.

And of course, we didn’t hand-pick a pair of bombers like Harms and Houser to play it safe with a bail-out drive to the right. That was supposed to be my job, near as I could tell.

In a conversation that took place moments before their drives, Harms said this:

“I don’t know about you, Nate, but when I’m playing in a scramble, somebody will hit one down the middle and then they’ll tell me I can go ahead and hit away. What they don’t know is that I never do it any other way – I don’t have a Plan B.”

Houser nodded his head. Neither of these fellows troubles his mind with Plan B.

It took some warming up, but both guys took dead aim on clearing the water and the trap and both did it. I did not, but I was satisfyingly close on my third attempt. All I needed was a little more elevation, a little less wind and Houser’s and Harms’ club speed. Just those things. Then I would have been right up there with the big boys.

Houser’s drive, against the wind, went about 285 and put him in great position for a shot at the green. Harms, who like most long hitters hits a high draw, was 301 yards from the tee box and in similarly great condition for his second shot. By having the power to cut this particular corner, they’d shaved off 50 yards.

Though the gambling nature of their shots was part of the show in this instance, it’s likely that both would have tried to play the hole the same way even under any circumstance.

Houser will be entering the Marine Corps this summer and approaches the game from the sort of philosophical power plant you might expect for one who is looking forward to the rigors of basic training and a career in the military in service to his country. Full-bore, in other words, and unafraid.

To understand Harms, you need to hear about his only hole-in-one.

The third hole at Willow Run Golf Course is 345 yards from the blue tees and almost no one who hits the ball with any length would think about trying to hit it through all the potential trouble. But Harms did it, getting past the huge protective tree on the left side. The ball hit the ground, shot to the right and that was the last he saw of it.

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“There were some people up on the green,” Harms said. “And one them gets in his cart and comes straight back toward the tee box. I’m thinking ‘Uh-oh’ and I got this real sheepish look on my face when he gets up to us.”

But the guy wasn’t upset. He was anxious to give Harms some good news.

“He told me how it happened and said they left the ball in the hole with pin in there. He was pretty pumped,” Harms said. “That wasn’t what I was expecting.”

While there was some warming up going on in delivering two drives that carried the 280 yards against the wind to perfect position on No. 15, both of our long hitters delivered on their second shots right away. Houser was pin-high to the right – there was a bit of good fortune involved there – and Harms was a little left but in perfect position for a short chip.

I bashed a three-wood but it dribbled into the water to the right beside the green. Both parred the hole and I was headed for a seven when I picked it up with a three-foot putt remaining. This is ain’t about me, I was thinking. Plus, I didn’t want an eight.

This was interesting pairing because of the differences in sizes. Houser, while well put-together, is less than six feet tall by several inches. Harms, on the other hand, looks like a college linebacker. They represent proof that there are several ways to go about generating big-time club speed.

“The power comes from your legs and downswing,” Houser said. “I keep the club really close to my body and I pivot and push off with my legs and keep that angle nice and tight, close to my body. That’s as easy as I can explain it. My backswing is well past parallel and I’m OK with that because I can control it.”

Harms’ approach is not quite as stylish.

“My swing is the opposite of a Bubba Watson type where they get really long in their backswing,” he said. “My club doesn’t get close to parallel. I’m nowhere near as flexible as Nate is. I try to create that torque between the shoulder turn and letting the hips go. Nate’s right – the power comes from your legs, hips and your core.”

They are lock-step on the charms of hitting the long ball, however.

“There’s nothing quite like that feeling at impact when you know you really tagged one,” Harms said. “It’s like a tuning fork that rings through the whole body.”